1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to robots and, in particular, to a system and method capable of using impulse radio technology to enhance the capabilities of a robot.
2. Description of Related Art
In the robotics field, one of the most significant design challenges involves the development of new ways to improve the way a control station can interact with and control the actions of a robot. To date many control stations have a standard radio transceiver, which transmits and receives radio signals to and from another standard radio transceiver attached to the robot in order to interact with and control the actions of that robot. Unfortunately, problems have arisen in the past with the use of standard radio equipment because there are often problematical xe2x80x9cdead zonesxe2x80x9d within a building that may interfere with the communications between the control station and a moving robot. Dead zones are caused by the closed structure of the building, which can make it difficult for a moving robot using a standard radio transceiver to maintain contact with a control station using a standard radio transceiver. For instance, the standard radio signals sent from the standard radio transceiver attached to the control station may not be able to penetrate a certain wall or floor within the building and as such may not reach the standard radio transceiver attached to the moving robot.
The closed structure of the building may also cause xe2x80x9cmultipath interferencexe2x80x9d which can interfere with standard radio transmissions between the control station and the robot. Multipath interference is an error caused by the interference of a standard radio signal that has reached a standard radio receiver by two or more paths. For instance, the standard radio receiver attached to the robot may not be able to demodulate a received radio signal because the originally transmitted radio signal effectively cancels itself out by bouncing of walls and floors of the building before reaching the robot. Accordingly, there has been a need to provide a system, robot and method that can overcome the traditional shortcomings associated with communications between the control station and robot. This need and other needs are addressed by the system, robot and method of the present invention.
The present invention includes a system and method capable of using impulse radio technology to enhance the capabilities of a robot. In one embodiment of the present invention, a system, a robot and a method are provided that use the communication capabilities of impulse radio technology to help a control station better control the actions of the robot. In another embodiment of the present invention, a system, a robot and a method are provided that use the communication, position and/or radar capabilities of impulse radio technology to help a control station better control the actions of a robot in order to, for example, monitor and control the environment within a building.